No abstract

At the University of North Florida School of Nursing, students, faculty, and community partners engage in a long-term relationship with a home-base to address community issues and student learning objectives. Community home-bases can be geographic or programmatic, but they serve as the central place where all of the partners come together and participate in mutually beneficial service-learning activities. The Home-base model addresses the unique integration of this partnership in the undergraduate curriculum, distinguished by the continuity of the student's clinical practice in one place throughout their nursing program. Findings from formative evaluation indicated that students "see the big picture," "shed underlying prejudices," "value upstream approaches," and "make a difference." This article describes the development and structure of the Home-base model, identifies preliminary outcomes, and discusses implications for nursing education.

The University of North Florida School of Nursing used a participatory approach to develop a community-based and community-focused curriculum that engaged students, faculty, and community stakeholders. This Home-base Model evolved over 6 years, building inductively using a continuous quality improvement process. We describe the formative evaluation process, the strategies used to engage the key stakeholders, and identify the benefits leading to the sustainability of the Home-base Model. A plan for external evaluation is in progress, building on existing stakeholder involvement and focusing on outcomes. The development of the Home-base Model is offered as an exemplar of how a participatory approach can build community nursing curricula that are consistent with community-driven agendas.

Nurses may need to consider changes in their practice to help patients realize their role as teacher.